Tier 2 General complicated rare case - change of employment

[stayintheuk]

Hi,

I am in a difficult situation seeking for accurate information. I am a Tier 2 General visa holder with employer A with expiry in May. But days ago, I wanted to change job and applied successfully for a new Tier 2 General visa with another employer B with a state date in Apr. However, after being informed, my current employer A wanted me to stay and I did want to change my mind and stay. But the Home Office said that I cannot simply do an extension application with my current employer A even though I haven't yet started work with the new employer B, but I have to do change of employment application with A, so I have to do 28 days labour test. What's more complicated, at some point I have to tell B that I have changed my mind; then B could cancel my Tier 2 visa with them which makes me not allowed to work for any companies in the UK. So I will not be allowed to work from the date of visa cancellation to the date my new visa with A is approved. My questions are:

1. Am I right in what I said above?

2. Does anyone see any concern regarding whether the change of employment Tier 2 General application with A could be problematic or could take longer than normal cases?

3. Will this gap impact application of permanent residency in the future?

Thank you very much for the help!

[Apam]

hi,
You are very fortunate in these times to have 2 jobs and can't choose which one to work for.
If you have a new visa for employer B, I will advice you to go ahead and work for B. At some point you can then do a change of employment application and work for A if you so wish.
Changing employment has no bearing on ILR so long as you meet the salary requirements etc. Only bear in mind it's always a risk to change jobs should something go wrong with the COS. never resign your old job until you have successfully obtained a new visa for your new employer.
This is my opinion, it's up to you which choice you make.

[manci]

Get employer A to start the RLMT asap. Once successfully completed they should assign an unrestricted CoS to you and you can apply for a new leave. In the present situation you are allowed to continue working for A until the work start date stated In the CoS assigned to you by B but not beyond. To speed up the decision on the new application which, if successful, will allow you to resume/continue work at A you could use the premium or priority service.

Once you tell B that you don't want to take up the post they have to inform the HO that they withdraw your sponsorship. The normal procedure then is that the HO curtail your current leave to 60 days from the time of the curtailment decision (not from the time they get the notification from B) and you are free to stay in the UK until the curtailed leave expires to look for another sponsor and apply for further leave to remain. This you will do in any case once A assigns a new CoS to you.

If all goes according to plan (as above) there will be no impact on your eventual settlement application.